Sports

Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Virat Kohli (PTI Photo/Shailendra Bhojak) Virat Kohli has returned to the Indian Premier League with immediate impact, delivering a match-winning performance for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in their season opener against Sunrisers Hyderabad. The veteran batter appears focused on helping RCB defend the title they secured for the first time last season.Interestingly, Kohli…

Chennai Super Kings’ captain Ruturaj Gaikwad (PTI Photo/R Senthilkumar) Chennai Super Kings are in unfamiliar territory. For a franchise built on consistency and calm starts, losing the first two matches of an IPL season has been a rare occurrence. In fact, it has happened only twice in their history — first in 2022 under Ravindra…

Rohit Sharma (Image credit: BCCI/IPL) NEW DELHI: Rohit Sharma isn’t missing any practice sessions with the Mumbai Indians team. In the nets on Friday afternoon at the Arun Jaitley stadium, he put his head down and mostly worked on perfecting his defensive technique. He refrained from playing the booming hits down the ground.Rohit is 26…

Punjab Kings’ skipper Shreyas Iyer (ANI Photo) Punjab Kings may be riding high on the field, but skipper Shreyas Iyer has landed in trouble off it after being fined ₹24 lakh for maintaining a slow over-rate during their win over Chennai Super Kings. The penalty comes as Punjab’s second over-rate offence of the season, which…

R Praggnanandhaa (Photo by Yoav Nis) NEW DELHI: You read that right. R Praggnanandhaa, India’s lone representative in the Open section, arguably squandered the best opportunity to score his second win at the Candidates Tournament on Friday at the Cap St Georges Hotel & Resort. Rather, the 2741-rated Grandmaster chose to settle for a lifeless…

Former India cricketer Yuvraj Singh, Abhishek Sharma’s mentor, has stated that it is disappointing for any player who has given his ‘heart and soul’ to the franchise ‘ for years’ to have missed out on leading the side. SRH had announced Ishan Kishan as the stand-in skipper for IPL 2026, snubbing Abhishek and the decision…

MS Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh (X) Yuvraj Singh has opened up on how captaincy decisions can often defy expectations, recalling the moment MS Dhoni was appointed India captain “from nowhere” despite several senior options in the side and him being the vice-captain and next in line to become captain.Speaking on a podcast with Sports Tak,…

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday heaped praise on Sanju Samson, highlighting the batter’s match-winning impact during India’s triumphant ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 campaign.Addressing Keralam karyakartas, Modi pointed to Samson’s performances under pressure as a lesson in focus and temperament. “Today cricket season is going on, and for the people of Kerala, this…

Shreyas Iyer (BCCI Photo) NEW DELHI: Punjab Kings registered an impressive five-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings in their IPL 2026 clash at Chepauk, chasing down a big target of 210 with confidence. Despite CSK putting up a strong total, PBKS handled the pressure better and sealed their second straight victory of the season.After being…

Ruturaj Gaikwad blamed his spinners for Chennai Super Kings’ five-wicket loss to Punjab Kings in their IPL match on Friday, saying an off day from them hurt the team despite a strong total on the board.Chennai Super Kings posted 209 for 5, with Ayush Mhatre scoring 73 off 43 balls. But Punjab Kings chased down…